The new ITV drama, The Long Shadow about the five-year hunt to catch serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, who murdered 13 women and attempted to murder seven others is set to dramatise the attempts to track down the man who was dubbed by the press, The Yorkshire Ripper.
The original show title was set to be The Yorkshire Ripper, but show writer George Kay revealed the reason for the title change in a recent Q&A.
The Radio Times reports that he said: “Well, we started by calling it The Yorkshire Ripper when we announced it.
“And we had a very respectful approach as a team throughout, but even at the beginning we hadn’t learned, which we did over the time of making the show, that that moniker, that name that people use to describe Peter Sutcliffe, which obviously began before anyone knew his real name but then continued after people knew his real name, was disrespectful in many ways.
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Kay continued: “So, that was one of our lessons. We’ve been really good, I think, about being flexible and trying to learn and change and understand their stories and their opinions.
“And so, because of that, the title changed from The Yorkshire Ripper – it was a working title, but that’s what it was intended to be at the time – to The Long Shadow, which is more in tune with the story we’re trying to tell, the broader story that we’re trying to tell.
“Not just about the crimes and the investigation, which are really important, but the effects of the crimes and the effects that continue long after Peter Sutcliffe himself was arrested and the legacy of that.”
The highly anticipated drama has an impressive cast with the likes of Toby Jones, David Morrissey, Jill Halfpenny, Lee Ingleby, Katherine Kelly and more.
The first-look images and trailer give an insight into what to expect from the drama which was filmed across Yorkshire.
The series aims to sensitively explore the lives of the victims who tragically crossed paths with Sutcliffe, as well as the police officers at the heart of the exhaustive investigation. Sutcliffe spent time in areas such as Chapeltown, Roundhay, Headingley and Farsley looking for potential victims.
It’s set to air on ITV1 and ITVX this month, September 2023.
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